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(No Model.)

P. E. BIRD.

. RAILROAD SWITGH'. N- 321,079- PatentedJune 30,1885.

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F' G o3 Nrrn STATES PATENT ITFICEQ PETER E. BIRD, OF JENKINTOWN, PEN NSYLVANIA,v ASSIGNOR OF ONE- I-IALF TO MARTIN L. KOHLER.

RAILROAD-SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 321,079, dated June 30, 1885,

Application filed May 7, 1885. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, PETER E. BIRD, of Jenkintown, in Montgomery county, in the State of Pennsylvania, have made a new and useful Improvement in Railroad Switches; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, true, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. f

rIhe obj ect of my invention is twofold-iirst, to open and close a railroad-switch without the necessity, `which exists in an ordinary switch, of moving the rails themselves'laterally fora considerable distance from the points where the tracks of the main line and siding meet; and, second, to secure the continuity of the line when the switch is open.

The character of my invention will be more easily understood by referring for a moment to the mode of operation of the Y ordinary switch. In the latter the rails of the main line are severed at the point where the rails of the siding or connecting-line end. In operating the switch, the rails of the main line are moved laterally by the switch-lever, so that their ends are brought opposite the ends of the rails of the severed portion of the main track or opposite to the ends of the rails of the siding or connecting track, accordingly as it is desired to close the main line or the connecting-line. Vhen the tracks of either are closed, and thus made continuous, the tracks of the other are necessarily broken, and a train moving on them toward the switch will, or is likely to, be derailed. Vith my improved switch the rails of the main line and of the siding are all rigidly spiked or attached to the crossties on both sides of the switch-point, and the undesirable lateral movement of the rails of the main line is thus avoided. Instead of merely severing the tracks of the main line, so that they may be capable of lateral motion, as in the ordinary switch, I not only sever them, but I leave a space between their severed ends, and insert in the space aV metal bed plate or frame (between the severed endsof the rails) in length greater than the gage of the tracks, and pivoted at one end by a link to the lower end of the switch-lever in such way that the whole bed-plate can be moved transversely between the ends of the rails across the line of the track by the movement of the switch-lever. The space occupied by the bed plate or frame will vary according to the angle at which the connectingline or siding meets the main line. This metal bed-plate, which may be cast as a solid piece or as a frame-work, has upon it four sections of rail, constructed as hereinafter described, and so placed that when the switch is set for the main line the continuity of' the rails of the siding or connectingline is -not broken, and vice versa, and in this'way the danger of derailment to a train approaching the switch on the main or connecting line is avoided, though the switch be set for the line other than that on which the train is approaching.'

Il will now describe more in detail the device with which I accomplish these results.

In the annexed drawings, in all of which the same lettersindicatesimilar parts, Figure 1 is a top view of the switch when it is set for themain line. Fig. 2 represents a top view of the switch when set for the siding or connecting-line. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section through the line x y, of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical section through the line x y of Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 a transverse vertical section through the line w v of Figs. 1 and 2.

A A is the main line of the railroad-track. B B is a siding or connecting-line, and C is the switch-stand, and D the switch-lever.

The rails of the main and connecting line are fixed rigidly to the cross-ties, leavinga space between the ends a c of the rails ofthe main line and other ends, b b, of the rails of the main and the ends c c of the rails ofthe connecting-line. The metal plate E, ,which is just wide enough to iit into the space be tween the ends of the rails, is laid upon the cross-ties, or, as shown in the drawings, upon another metal plate, which is bolted to the cross-ties. It is kept in position by the shoulders e e on the lower metal plate and the iingersff; or when no lower plate is used it is countersunk into the cross-ties, so that a portion of the ties themselves act as shoulders to keep it in place. This metal plate E is pivoted by the link F to the lower end of the switch-lever D, so that by moving the lever the plate can be moved transverselyacross the line of the track A A. This bed-plate has fixed to it four sections ofrails, G H I K, extending across it. These sections of rail may be cast in one piece with the bed-plate, except the parts m m, (which are intended to be capable of a slight lateral movement) of the sections H and I. Each of the sections G and K consists of a piece of rail, o, with a triangular metal projection, n, on the inside ofeach piece of rail, the height of which is,l

such relatively to the height of the rails that when the tread of a wheel 'rests on the rails its flange would j ust reach the surface of these projections, and the diameter of which at the base of the triangle, which is always toward the rails of the connecting-line, is wide enough to extend beyond the adjoining rail of the side track when the main line is closed, and the adjoining rail of the main track when the siding or connecting-line is closed. Each of the sections of rail H and I consists of two'pieces of rail, m and p, held together by a spring, O. The portion of rail m is pivoted at the point r, so as to allow a movement round this point when pressed from the portion of rail p, with enough force to overcome the resistance of the spring O, thus creating an opening at the point of joining of the portion p and the portion m of the rail-sections. The angle between the parts p and m is such that the two parts form a continuation of one rail of the main line and the adjoining rail of the connecting-line when brought into juxtaposition with them. The sections of rails G H I K are xed to the bed-plate E at such distances from each other that one outside section, G, and the opposite inside section, I, form the connecting-link between the ends a a and the ends b b of the rails of the main line when the switch is set for the main line, as in Fig. l, and the other outside section, K, and the opposite inside section, H, form the connection between -the ends of rails a a of the main line and the ends of the rails c cof the siding when the switch is set for the siding. At the same time that either outside section makes the continuity of one of the rails of either line, the projection n at its side furnished asupport and path for the flanges of the wheels of a train approaching the switch on the adjoining rail of whichever line is open, and thus prevents their derailment, while the portion m o`f the section H or I is forced far enough away from the part p to admit the passage of the iianges of the wheels on the other side of the train between them, thus enabling them to follow the rail into the main line.

The switch operates as follows: Suppose the switch to be set for the main line, as in Fig. 1 and suppose a train to be approaching the switch on the connecting-line, the switch is open, and in an ordinary switch the train would probably be derailed; but with the present device, however, the flanges of the wheels on the one side are carried along on the plate n until 4they strike the rail of the main line, and the flanges of the wheels ofthe other side, by pushing the section of the rail m suciently far to enable them to pass between on and p, are enabled to follow the line of the track continuously from the connecting-track onto the main track, and the same thing takes place where the switch is set for the connecting-line and a train approaches along the main line with the switch open.

I claiml. A switching apparatus composed of a movable bed-plate, E, with the sections of rail G H I K mounted thereon, as and for the purpose described.

2. In a switching device consisting of a movable bed-plate, E, with the sections of rail G H I K mounted thereon, the projections u n on the sections G and K, as and for the purpose described.

3. In a switching device consisting of a movable bed-plate, E, with sections of rail G H I K mounted thereon, the side pieces, m m, on the sections H and I, capable of motion round the pivot r, as and for the purpose described.

PETER E. BIRD.

Witnesses:

IsAIAH MkTLAcK, JOHN M. WEST. 

